Well, well, well. I'm not going to beat around the bush. Unless you like pretty things, bookcases are useless. Yep. They honestly don't do anything other than provide an excuse to build another room in your house. Well, why not give those extra rooms - more specifically those bookcases - a purpose? You've come to the right place. I was playing minecraft last night, collecting materials for my library when I realized "hey, why am I taking up space with a library, anyways? Shouldn't I be able to DO SOMETHING with these books?". Well, the idea is as follows..
Table of contents
1. Books
1a. Player-Written
1b. Deceased-Written
1c. Craft-Written
2. Bookcases
3. More to come!
1. Books
Books, obviously, are books. They're already in the game, so I don't think I need to put down a description of what they look like or how to craft them.. HOWEVER as said before they don't have much of a purpose other than creating bookshelves.. which in turn don't have purposes! (Other than looking nice.) So they should serve a purpose.. not just one purpose, but three purposes! You could read them, write them, and get information from 'em! Reading one is simple - just right click on any surface to plop the book down on the block, right click on the book to start reading, and hit the right and left arrow keys to flip pages. Lets focus on the different types of books, now, shall we?
1a. Player Written
Player written books are, well, player written books. After you craft a book, you can hold it and right click to begin writing. "Wouldn't you need a pencil or something like that to write?" Nonsense! You don't need a pencil to write signs, therefore why need one to write books? Alright, alright. If you want to write books, you'll need a pencil. However they're relatively easy to make.
See? You could make one of these thingies without any tools. Simple. And you don't have to sharpen them to boot! How convenient is THAT? Maybe you could even write in smaller font on signs with them.. Anyways, back to the topic of, y'know, writing books.
Writing a book would be nearly identical to writing a sign, but the font would be a tad smaller and you would have quite a bit more space. Once a page was finished, you could turn the page to work on the next one. When you were done writing your book, it would ask for a title to display on the front cover, and the book would automatically display "written by blahblahblah" underneath your title when you were finished. This may not have much use in singleplayer (except possibly writing note-to-selves), but in multiplayer, think of the possibilities. Libraries! Ways to write without taking up much space! Authors! Something to do at night before you're properly equipped to kill monsters. Wouldn't it be grand? However, since no good ideas are multi-player only, lets go on to..
1b. Deceased Written
These books could be found in Libraries in Strongholds and Abandoned Mine Shafts, and possibly chests in Dungeons. They may also be found deep underground. They would be already written and for you to read. They may say something about the dangers that lie ahead if written deep underground, or may be strategies on how to deal with monsters that you couldn't find in Craft-Written books (more on those in a bit). These books would breathe personality into the world of Minecraft and be rather fun. But what if you don't want to adventure to find these informational books? Onto..
1c. Craft Written
No MineCRAFT idea is complete without something to CRAFT! Yes, you could craft pre-written books, possibly with magic (i'm not sure how the system of magic works, I don't have the prerelease, so more about the possibility of magic-written books when 1.9 comes out). You would craft them like this.
Key - = Book
In this case, the book would contain information about Iron Ingots. It would tell you what you could craft with it and a bit of information on how to get them. "But SandvichParty, these would RUIN the sense of wonder in minecraft.. and possibly RUIN the minecraft wiki too!" Ah, but they wouldn't tell you EVERYTHING. They would only tell you about the basic tools (pickaxe, sword, hoe, shears, fishing rod, etc) you could make with them - for some things, you would have to find out on your own (or use the wiki, you cheater). There would also be no books on the Nether, as its doubtable that anyone who's gone there has lived to tell about it :tongue.gif: 2. Bookcases
Bookcases are bookcases, duuuuhhhhh. They would hold nine written books, stacks of papers, or stacks of unwritten books, and possibly pencils. So basically chests for literature stuff. Not much else to say about that, other than they might display the number of books by the texture on the front. If there was, say, four written books inside, it would display four books on the front and back of the bookshelf. 3. More to come!
This idea is new and I don't know if you guys will like it or not, so I don't want to waste effort on something everyone hates! With enough ideas and feedback, I'll expand the original post. So give me all the feedback, positive AND negative, and possibly praise if you will.
Just a note, there may be plans for bookcases in the future with what happens when a bookcase is near an enchantment table. All those unused libraries out there may become enchantment rooms if something is actually gained by it.
Other than that its a cool idea, might end up being a little complicated though.
Thanks for the feedback. I don't see how this would be complicated, however. Craft pencil. Craft book. Write book. Put book in bookcase. Done. :wink.gif:
I love the idea and have wanted this to be implemented in the game for quite some time! I was thinking though, holding nine books in just 1 bookcase block might be tricky! I feel that big libraries then would be 98% show with maybe 2-3 shelves with actual books. Maybe since it's crafted with three books it only holds three books? I also love the idea for the pencil! That's fantastic! I was also thinking, maybe a new "station" could be crafted? So instead of just right-clicking, one would have to craft, say a desk. When right clicking the desk with a book in hand, the book would plop down and open, similar to the enchanting tables animation and then one could write. Great ideas you've got posted!
I ike the books idea, but not so much the pencil. Quill pen (ink sac + feather) has been talked over and over and I think it fits with the feel of Minecraft better than a pencil. I would like information books though, put every crafting recipe in a large collection of books; the more powerful the item, the rarer the book. I would put some of the books in the nether, so that you'ld have to go there to get the potion recipes. After all, you have to go there to get the potion ingredients.
I ike the books idea, but not so much the pencil. Quill pen (ink sac + feather) has been talked over and over and I think it fits with the feel of Minecraft better than a pencil. I would like information books though, put every crafting recipe in a large collection of books; the more powerful the item, the rarer the book. I would put some of the books in the nether, so that you'ld have to go there to get the potion recipes. After all, you have to go there to get the potion ingredients.
That's a teriffic idea. The books could be lying on the floors of the tuins, maybe?
Just like how you find music disks, I think you should be able to find ancient books with stories in them. Being able to write your own books I feel is rather pointless though unless it was multiplayer and you're some kind of author who other minecrafters will read your works in your house? Nonetheless finding and collecting stories would be cool, and certain books could be used for enchanting that would be cool.
Just like how you find music disks, I think you should be able to find ancient books with stories in them. Being able to write your own books I feel is rather pointless though unless it was multiplayer and you're some kind of author who other minecrafters will read your works in your house? Nonetheless finding and collecting stories would be cool, and certain books could be used for enchanting that would be cool.
Being able to write books is actually a huge deal for folks making adventure maps.
I wholly support this idea, with a couple of minor tweaks:
1. Pencil should be pen, Feathers and ink-sac as stated earlier -- perhaps like this, with coal being the ink-sac
2. Bookcases would be containers that can hold four or nine items, but those items restricted to books, paper, maps, and pens. Anything else gets spit out when you leave the bookcase screen.
Although, since you use three books to make a book-case, I suppose you could just put those three books in the case. Then you don't have to worry about making the case a container at all, (or the associated checks for what can be stored in it,etc.) just click on the case and it gives you three options made of the first 16 characters of the book or so. Pick an option and you get the text.
This is a fantastic idea, I have long awaited for someone to have a practical way to do more with books and knowledge in game! I particularly enjoyed your segment on "something to do during the night" as it could serve an adventure purpose as well: cataloging and recording your adventures from the previous day.
If the sole use of a pencil is simply to write in a book, then simply omit the pencil as it's redundant. You don't need a pencil to write on a sign, why would you need one to write in a book?
1a. Player-Written
1b. Deceased-Written
1c. Craft-Written
2. Bookcases
3. More to come!
1. Books
Books, obviously, are books. They're already in the game, so I don't think I need to put down a description of what they look like or how to craft them.. HOWEVER as said before they don't have much of a purpose other than creating bookshelves.. which in turn don't have purposes! (Other than looking nice.) So they should serve a purpose.. not just one purpose, but three purposes! You could read them, write them, and get information from 'em! Reading one is simple - just right click on any surface to plop the book down on the block, right click on the book to start reading, and hit the right and left arrow keys to flip pages. Lets focus on the different types of books, now, shall we?
1a. Player Written
Player written books are, well, player written books. After you craft a book, you can hold it and right click to begin writing. "Wouldn't you need a pencil or something like that to write?" Nonsense! You don't need a pencil to write signs, therefore why need one to write books? Alright, alright. If you want to write books, you'll need a pencil. However they're relatively easy to make.
See? You could make one of these thingies without any tools. Simple. And you don't have to sharpen them to boot! How convenient is THAT? Maybe you could even write in smaller font on signs with them.. Anyways, back to the topic of, y'know, writing books.
Writing a book would be nearly identical to writing a sign, but the font would be a tad smaller and you would have quite a bit more space. Once a page was finished, you could turn the page to work on the next one. When you were done writing your book, it would ask for a title to display on the front cover, and the book would automatically display "written by blahblahblah" underneath your title when you were finished. This may not have much use in singleplayer (except possibly writing note-to-selves), but in multiplayer, think of the possibilities. Libraries! Ways to write without taking up much space! Authors! Something to do at night before you're properly equipped to kill monsters. Wouldn't it be grand? However, since no good ideas are multi-player only, lets go on to..
1b. Deceased Written
These books could be found in Libraries in Strongholds and Abandoned Mine Shafts, and possibly chests in Dungeons. They may also be found deep underground. They would be already written and for you to read. They may say something about the dangers that lie ahead if written deep underground, or may be strategies on how to deal with monsters that you couldn't find in Craft-Written books (more on those in a bit). These books would breathe personality into the world of Minecraft and be rather fun. But what if you don't want to adventure to find these informational books? Onto..
1c. Craft Written
No MineCRAFT idea is complete without something to CRAFT! Yes, you could craft pre-written books, possibly with magic (i'm not sure how the system of magic works, I don't have the prerelease, so more about the possibility of magic-written books when 1.9 comes out). You would craft them like this.
Key -
In this case, the book would contain information about Iron Ingots. It would tell you what you could craft with it and a bit of information on how to get them. "But SandvichParty, these would RUIN the sense of wonder in minecraft.. and possibly RUIN the minecraft wiki too!" Ah, but they wouldn't tell you EVERYTHING. They would only tell you about the basic tools (pickaxe, sword, hoe, shears, fishing rod, etc) you could make with them - for some things, you would have to find out on your own (or use the wiki, you cheater). There would also be no books on the Nether, as its doubtable that anyone who's gone there has lived to tell about it :tongue.gif:
2. Bookcases
Bookcases are bookcases, duuuuhhhhh. They would hold nine written books, stacks of papers, or stacks of unwritten books, and possibly pencils. So basically chests for literature stuff. Not much else to say about that, other than they might display the number of books by the texture on the front. If there was, say, four written books inside, it would display four books on the front and back of the bookshelf.
3. More to come!
This idea is new and I don't know if you guys will like it or not, so I don't want to waste effort on something everyone hates! With enough ideas and feedback, I'll expand the original post. So give me all the feedback, positive AND negative, and possibly praise if you will.
Other than that its a cool idea, might end up being a little complicated though.
enil
That's a teriffic idea. The books could be lying on the floors of the tuins, maybe?
Being able to write books is actually a huge deal for folks making adventure maps.
I wholly support this idea, with a couple of minor tweaks:
1. Pencil should be pen, Feathers and ink-sac as stated earlier -- perhaps like this, with coal being the ink-sac
2. Bookcases would be containers that can hold four or nine items, but those items restricted to books, paper, maps, and pens. Anything else gets spit out when you leave the bookcase screen.
Although, since you use three books to make a book-case, I suppose you could just put those three books in the case. Then you don't have to worry about making the case a container at all, (or the associated checks for what can be stored in it,etc.) just click on the case and it gives you three options made of the first 16 characters of the book or so. Pick an option and you get the text.
OFFICIAL POSTING/REPLYING GUIDELINES
UNOFFICIAL POSTING GUIDE (PRT)
UNOFFICIAL REPLYING GUIDE (FTC)
But pencils are pointless. You don't need them for signs, so you don't need them for books.